2003 Chicago White Sox Baseball Graphs Review

The White Sox had three distinct segments to their season. Up to the All-Star break, they were two games under .500. From July 17th to September 9th, they were 8.5 games over .500. And from then to the end of the season, they were one game under .500. Unfortunately, this left them short of the Minnesota Twins for the division title.

Some of this streakiness was due to the schedule, but only some of it. For instance, the White Sox were 8-11 against the Tigers (the Tigers won more games vs. the Sox than any other team). Through July 17th, the Sox had lost six of seven straight games against the Tigers. For the rest of the eyar, they won five of six.

The Sox were one of the best pitching/fielding teams in the league this year; sort of a poor man's Seattle. Their FIP, DER and fielding stats were all above average.

Among fielders, Jose Valentin deserves the Gold Glove at shortstop, according to David Pinto's analysis and Win Shares. Other top Sox fielders included Olivo and Crede.

On the mound, the White Sox got a tremendous surprise year out of Loaiza (FIP of -0.11) and a very good year from Bartolo Colon (FIP of 1.01, helped by a DER of .731 -- look for a decline next year). Marte and Gordon were also tremendous out of the bullpen.

The Sox lost the first game after the All-Star break, but then they went on a tear, as you can see on the chart. You can also see the trends in runs scored and allowed pretty clearly.

The pitching was particularly outstanding from June through August. But the season turned on the bats, and the White Sox's bats turned quiescent in some key series, particularly against the Twins in early September.

The Sox had some of the best power in the league, by the way. Their slugging percentage was fifth. But their OBP was only .331, compared to an average for the league of .336. As a result, they had the third-least at bats with runners in scoring position. When you look more specifically at their lineup, it appears that the #8 and #9 positions were significantly below league average in OBP. In the American League, this can matter.

Chicago White Sox' Win Shares

Player          Team    Pos     Hit     Field   Pitch   Sum     WS 	
--------	-----	----	----	----	-----	-----	---	
E Loaiza        CWS     P       0.00    0.00    23.06   23.06   23	
F Thomas        CWS     DH      22.42   0.40    0.00    22.82   23	
M Ordonez       CWS     OF      19.63   3.18    0.00    22.80   23	
C Lee           CWS     OF      17.36   2.85    0.00    20.21   20	
J Valentin      CWS     SS      10.35   8.08    0.00    18.42   18	
B Colon         CWS     P       0.00    0.00    16.93   16.93   17	
D Marte         CWS     P       0.00    0.00    15.14   15.14   15	
J Crede         CWS     3B      8.86    4.54    0.00    13.40   13	
M Buehrle       CWS     P       0.00    0.00    13.06   13.06   13	
T Gordon        CWS     P       0.00    0.00    10.84   10.84   11	
J Garland       CWS     P       0.00    0.00    10.06   10.06   10	
C Everett       CWS     OF      7.55    1.68    0.00    9.24    9	
T Graffanino    CWS     SS      5.48    3.33    0.00    8.80    9	
M Olivo         CWS     C       2.24    5.39    0.00    7.63    8	
D Jimenez       CWS     2B      3.98    2.62    0.00    6.60    7	
A Rowand        CWS     OF      4.91    1.50    0.00    6.41    6	
R Alomar        CWS     2B      2.27    2.68    0.00    4.95    5	
S Alomar        CWS     C       1.89    2.29    0.00    4.19    4	
B Daubach       CWS     1B      3.24    0.59    0.00    3.83    4	
P Konerko       CWS     1B      1.63    1.90    0.00    3.53    4	
K Wunsch        CWS     P       0.00    0.00    3.46    3.46    4	
B Koch          CWS     P       0.00    0.00    2.27    2.27    2	
G Glover        CWS     P       0.00    0.00    1.92    1.92    2	
W Harris        CWS     OF      0.02    1.54    0.00    1.56    2	
J Paul          CWS     C       1.14    0.29    0.00    1.43    1	
S Schoeneweis   CWS     P       0.00    0.00    1.29    1.29    1	
S Sullivan      CWS     P       0.00    0.00    1.10    1.10    1	
A Miles         CWS     2B      0.65    0.07    0.00    0.72    1	
A Rios          CWS     OF      0.00    0.48    0.00    0.48    1	
J Burke         CWS     C       0.44    0.01    0.00    0.45    1	
J Adkins        CWS     P       0.00    0.00    0.38    0.38    0	
J Stewart       CWS     P       0.00    0.00    0.31    0.31    0	
J Borchard      CWS     OF      0.00    0.30    0.00    0.30    0	
M Porzio        CWS     P       0.00    0.00    0.18    0.18    0	
D Wright        CWS     P       0.00    0.00    0.12    0.12    0	
D Sanders       CWS     P       0.00    0.00    0.10    0.10    0	
N Cotts         CWS     P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
M Ginter        CWS     P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
J Paniagua      CWS     P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
R White         CWS     P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	

Chicago made a couple of inseason trades to improve the team. Picking up Carl Everett helped a lot (9 Win Shares), but Roberto Alomar wasn't much of an improvement over Jimenez.

Three co-MVP's for the Sox seems about right. Carlos Lee's fine year should also be noted, as well as Joe Crede's. Paul Konerko salvaged an incredibly poor start with months in July and August, though he reverted to first-half form in September and wound up with only four Win Shares.

It also must be said that Keith Foulke for Billy Koch was a bad idea.